


On Accident, For a Reason (‘Tis the Season)

by otppurefuckingmagic



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Accidental Cord Mangling, Carhartt Has Never Been More Attractive, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Hot Chocolate, M/M, Shy Alec Lightwood, Writer Magnus Bane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:01:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21659491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/otppurefuckingmagic/pseuds/otppurefuckingmagic
Summary: When Alec (accidentally) ruins Magnus’ Christmas lights display, fixing it is only the neighborly thing to do. There’s no alternative reason for knocking at Magnus’ door to apologize and make it right. None at all.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 12
Kudos: 292





	On Accident, For a Reason (‘Tis the Season)

**Author's Note:**

> i have no idea why i never cross-posted this to ao3! but here it is now. this was for the shadowadvent last year. if you want to read any of the stories they're up [here](https://www.shadowadvent.co.uk)

Magnus lifted his head from the couch, listening.

Below the tinkling bells and synthesized crescendo of Christmas music blaring out of his living room speakers, a low hum reverberated in his ears. A churning, mechanical hum that drew closer, portending the imminent arrival of a snow blower in his driveway and the tall, dark, and broodingly handsome man who commanded it.

Magnus smiled.

As far as he was concerned, a major snowstorm the week before Christmas was perfect timing. That the forecasted cold snap would hold the snow in place until well after the holiday only made him happier. There was little that was better than a wintery Christmas. But it wasn’t the snow, per se, that had his stomach flipping with anticipation.

He tossed his notebook to the side, swooped his legs over the side of the couch, turned down his Christmas music and headed for his office to peek out the window at his snow savior. After a winter storm, the single divorcé across the street always cleared the snow from their elderly neighbors’ driveway before his own, then, without fail, headed to Magnus’ driveway next.

But before he could make it to his office—to the one window that overlooked both his driveway and the house of his neighbor across the street—the hum of the snow blower abruptly cut off. Magnus skittered to a stop in his house slippers and tipped his head at the sound of a ripe swear, then boots crunching through the snow toward his front door.

The doorbell, inexplicably, rang.

It wasn’t as if he and the enigmatic Alec Lightwood were friends. On the contrary, their paths didn’t cross much. Usually in the early mornings when Magnus was stumbling out for his morning newspaper before he headed to bed, and Alec was just heading off to work—an infant car seat on one arm and his ten-year-old son sleepily dragging his feet behind him. Or sometimes in the evenings when Magnus sat at his desk torturing himself over words and would wave out the window as Alec and his eldest son played baseball or some other equally testosterone-laden sport in their yard while the youngest babbled happily from a blanket in the grass.

Magnus’ own yard would’ve been an unsuitable lounging  _ and  _ playing surface, since it suffered from patches of bristly grass interspersed with bursts of wildflowers from the seeds he’d thrown out in the lawn two summers ago. Then there were the vines crawling up the side of the brick on Magnus’ house…. Raphael said they were an eyesore, Catarina claimed they were a metaphor for Magnus’ evolution into a stereotypical, isolated author, and Ragnor didn’t care either way as long as they didn’t impede his journey to the front door on their weekly Fondue Fridays.

Alec’s lawn, however, was always meticulously groomed. He spent hours outside each weekend between the months of April and November mowing precise diagonal lines across his grass, pruning bushes into aesthetically-pleasing natural forms, raking leaves into neat piles, traipsing across his roof tending to gutters (and whatever other maintenance one was supposed to do from that height, but Magnus never did), all while his shirt usually ended up discarded across the fence and his skin bronzed as the spring folded into summer then fall, only to fade into a delicious paleness during the extended winter nights. A fairness that only served to highlight the blush on his cheeks….

A blush that was very much settled above Alec’s beard when Magnus opened the door.

“Hello, Alec,” he said way too breathily.

Okay. It was possible he also lost his breath when Alec’s hazel eyes were fixated completely on him as they were now. 

“I’m sorry, I, uh, I forgot about the extension cord out to your lights and now— Well, now it’s wrapped up in the snow blower.” Alec grimaced sheepishly. “I think the only way I’m going to get it out is if I cut it free.”

Magnus peeked around Alec’s broad shoulders to find the snow blower laying against the half-cleared concrete and the bright orange extension cord gnarled in its metallic teeth.

“My lights,” Magnus squeaked.

“I’m so sorry. I know how much you love them.”

Magnus nodded slowly. They were audacious and garish and exactly what Magnus loved the most about Christmas.

Well, them and the preponderance of snowstorms during this season that led Alec to his driveway over and over again. How Alec made a brown one-piece Carhartt snowsuit and heavy leather work boots look that good was beyond Magnus’ understanding. Honestly, Alec made it impossible to feel bad about the lights at all.

Magnus slid the door fully open. “Come on inside. I’ll see if I can find a set of shears, so you can cut it free.”

Alec tromped the snow off his boots before stepping inside. “I really am sorry.”

“No harm done,” he replied, because there really wasn’t. “As long as you didn’t electrocute yourself or lose any appendages in the process.”

“All accounted for,” Alec said with a shy smile. He stepped inside and slipped his gloves then his knit cap off, ruffling a hand through his mussed hair. “I’ll just wait here so I don’t track more snow into your house.”

“Nonsense. Would you like a cup of hot cocoa before you brave the winds again? It’s the least I can do since you unbury me every time a storm rolls through.”

“Sure. I’ll just….” Alec glanced around the hallway, then at his ice-encrusted arms and legs. “I’m covered in snow.”

“You can strip right there. I don’t mind.”

Alec’s blush deepened.

Magnus smirked and turned on his heel, giving his neighbor a modicum of privacy. “Join me when you’re decent,” he called out.

He headed for the kitchen and the pot of hot chocolate perpetually warming on his stovetop this time of year. Strikingly aware of the sounds of Alec disrobing in his front hall, Magnus willed his heartbeat to slow and extracted two glittering red mugs from the cupboard.

“Wow. You really like Christmas, huh?”

With his socked feet, Magnus hadn’t heard Alec’s approach. While Alec surveyed the explosion of Christmas cheer that was Magnus’ living room, Magnus studied him.

Under that one-piece snowsuit, Alec wore worn jeans and a black Henley, buttons undone to showcase a hint of chest hair and sleeves straining against the biceps underneath. Alec rolled up said sleeves as he sauntered into the kitchen, his hair pointing in all directions and his gaze fixated on the lights and tinsel draped across the ceiling.

Frankly, he looked both adorable and fuckable. Magnus hadn’t even known that combination was possible.

He bit back a smile and refocused on filling their cups. “Two of my dearest friends are curmudgeons unwilling to embrace their inner child…. Unless they’re pouting. And the third is much too busy saving the world to have the time, or inclination, to decorate for a once-a-year limited engagement. So I adorn, trim, and festoon for their collective benefit.”

The twinkling golden lights danced in Alec’s eyes when he fixed his gaze on Magnus. “You really are a writer.”

“Some days more than others,” he mused.

Today was one of those days where he felt entirely incompetent and out of his depth. Alec showing up at his door was a welcome distraction from the book he needed to submit in a few weeks. Although, their impromptu gathering was already awakening his overly-tired brain cells. That fact alone called for celebration…in the form of mini marshmallows, of course.

Magnus scrounged through the cupboard for the bag and peered at Alec over his shoulder. “No work for you today?”

“School was cancelled, and day care closed. I could’ve gone into the office since my sister spent the night, but….” He shrugged casually and sat down on the other side of the kitchen island. “I used the storm as an excuse not to go in.”

“How about some Patrón Cafe and Peppermint Schnapps in your hot chocolate then?”

Alec laughed, a low rumbling that warmed Magnus more than the steaming cup in his hands.

“Sure.”

Magnus topped off the mugs with a dash of each spirit and dropped in a handful of marshmallows before sliding Alec’s across the counter to him. “Is your sister the dark-haired one who I hear yelling for you occasionally?”

“That’s Izzy,” Alec confirmed with a grin.

“Alexander is your full given name, then?”

“Yeah. I know I’m in trouble when she calls me that.”

“What a shame.” He sipped at his cocoa then peeked at Alec over the rim of his cup. “A name that enchanting should be spoken in love, not in anger.”

And there was that decidedly humble blush adorning Alec’s cheeks again.

“I haven’t seen you out much,” Alec stumbled out. “You know, lately.”

“I’m on a deadline. As Douglas Adams once said—and I’m paraphrasing here—I love the whooshing noise as they pass.”

“I’m great with deadlines. But Rafe—my oldest—isn’t. He had a choice today. He could either shovel snow with me or stay inside with his aunt until he finishes a project that’s due after the Christmas break.”

“Oh no. You’re  _ that  _ kind of dad.”

Alec laughed easily, making the crinkles around his eyes stand out. It was maddeningly captivating. He rested his elbows on the counter and leaned in. “I’m a lot easier on him than my father was on me.”

Magnus nodded sagely. If he was ever blessed with children, he’d be better for them than his own father had been too.

“You have Rafe full-time?”

“Yeah. He, uh…. I actually adopted him after the divorce. Max too.”

“And how does your ex-wife feel about that?”

Alec cleared his throat and met Magnus’ eyes. “Ex-husband, actually.”

“My apologies.” He wasn’t sorry at all. He’d been hoping for that exact confirmation and was more than happy to provide the same confirmation back to Alec. He couldn’t stop himself from leaning in toward Alec as he said, “As a bisexual man myself, I should know better than to presume.”

“Most people do.” Alec shrugged, and another shy grin lit up his face. “I mean, I’m gay, but I do wear Carhartt.”

“Believe me, even in that fashion disaster you’d still be eye candy at a Pride parade.”

“I, uh….” Alec scratched his long fingers through his beard then waved a hand in Magnus’ direction. “I actually saw you at the one downtown. In June…. At the Pride parade then. Rafe and my siblings dragged me there.”

“Am I to assume that was your first one, then?”

“Yeah. My ex…. Honestly? It was a revenge marriage, really, for both of us. I’d been closeted my whole life and so had he, then same-sex marriage was legalized and while both of our sets of parents railed against the immorality of it all, he and I were at the Courthouse. It’s the most reckless thing I’ve ever done, and it didn’t work out in the end, but I wouldn’t change one thing about it. I moved here—closer to my sister and brothers—I have Rafe and Max, my job is good and, although I’m not completely out, I’m not hiding anymore either….” Alec furrowed his brow as he poked at one of the marshmallows. “Wow. I don’t know why I just told you all of…that.”

“Maybe I just have the kind of face you can trust.”

Alec chuckled. “Maybe.”

“It sounds as if your days are packed with family and work, Alec.”

“They really are.”

“Well.” Magnus set his cup down and stood. “Why don’t you take a moment for yourself, warm up, and I’ll find those shears.”

Alec’s shoulders eased, his lips tipping up. “Okay.”

“Take all the marshmallows you want as well,” Magnus said, pushing the bag across the granite with one fingertip. “It shouldn’t be solely kids who get to enjoy Christmas.”

Forget the shears or his lights.

The warmth in Alec’s responding smile could’ve brought back summer.

****

_ Take a moment for yourself. _

It was the same thing Izzy had been telling Alec for years now—ever since the divorce. But he’d been up for a promotion, then Rafe had come along, and just when he’d thought he was balancing his life better, Max had been dropped on his doorstep—quite literally.

His life was chaos. Well-managed chaos, yes. But chaos nonetheless. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d done something solely for himself….

Until he’d knocked on Magnus’ door today.

Running over Magnus’ extension cord with his snow blower had been an accident, but Alec had a brand-new extension cord, clippers, snips, cutters, industrial scissors,  _ and  _ shears in his own garage just across the street. He’d told himself that apologizing, in person, was merely the neighborly thing to do. That he needed to let Magnus know he’d make it right.

In the last two years of living across the street from Magnus, Alec had fixed more than a few things around Magnus’ yard when something had gone wrong. The patch of grass he’d re-seeded when Rafe lost control of his go-kart. Spray-washing Magnus’ garage door when Max—his younger brother, not his one-year-old—decided to fill water balloons with paint. Installing a new mailbox when Jace rented a Bobcat to help Alec out with landscaping then promptly crashed it…. And that was just the beginning of the list. With his accident-prone brood of siblings and kids, he’d fixed so much in Magnus’ yard that he was surprised Magnus hadn’t lodged a formal complaint with the neighborhood association yet.

But after the first incident, Magnus had waved off an apology, assuring Alec that whatever solution he came up with was fine. Since then, Alec had stopped asking for forgiveness, completed the necessary repair work, and Magnus had taken it all in stride. So really, there was no reason he needed to knock on Magnus’ door at all today.

Except that he really, really wanted to find a reason to talk to Magnus.

Alec smiled, drank back more of Magnus’ hot chocolate concoction and plopped a few more marshmallows in it, taking a moment for himself.

He was inside Magnus’ house for the first time ever and Magnus was definitely flirting with him. He still didn’t know if flirtation was Magnus’ default setting or if he was purposefully directing that playfulness at Alec, but he was a hell of a lot closer to finding out than he had been an hour ago. Now he just to figure it out for sure….

And had no idea how to do that.

Alec had to chuckle at his own obliviousness. Maybe he would've been more confident if he'd been on even  _ one  _ date since his divorce. Or, he had to consider, maybe he had no chance of being confident because Magnus obliterated his ability to think intelligently at all.

Neither his stammering nor his blushing seemed to be turning Magnus off though, so he wasn't totally failing at this, right?

He listened to the muffled muttering and clatters coming from Magnus’ garage, wondering if he should get up and help when Magnus came bursting through the door again.

“Success!” Magnus proclaimed, holding up a pair of pruning shears triumphantly.

There may have been tequila and Schnapps in Alec’s mug, but Magnus himself was much more intoxicating. His deep blue V-neck sweater snuggled tightly around his chest and arms as Magnus presented the shears to Alec, and the lights draped across the ceiling glinted off Magnus’ ruby glossed lips as they pulled into a self-satisfied grin.

“It occurred to me while I was digging through my woeful lack of tools that you likely have a meticulously organized set in your own garage, Alec.”

_ Shit _ .

He’d been found out.

“Maybe,” Alec mumbled. He needed to abort this mission before he died of either embarrassment or extreme attraction. With his heart beating out of control from simply being in Magnus’ proximity it felt like a distinct possibility. He pushed back the chair and stood. “Anyway, thank you for hot chocolate. And I’m sorry about your lights. I’ll grab an extension cord from my garage and swap it out for you.”

“I’m glad we had a chance to chat.”

Was he? Or did he say that to every neighbor who regularly destroyed pieces of his yard?

Still clueless about how to make basic conversation happen with the one man he wanted to talk to, Alec blurted out, “I should get back to plowing.”

“Well. Aren’t you forward?” Magnus teased.

Alec felt heat rising on his cheeks from his unintentional innuendo, but Magnus just chuckled softly. “Thank you for clearing my driveway for me.”

“I really don’t mind. I mean the driveway thing, not the flirting thing, but I really don’t mind that—” Oh. My. God. Why was he like this? He huffed out a breath and headed for his nearest escape route. “Okay, yeah, I should just…go. Out there. Again.”

He couldn’t meet Magnus’ eyes as he zipped up his snowsuit. Still wasn’t capable of it when he laced up his boots or when he pulled on his hat and gloves. 

But when he finally dared to look back, Magnus was still smiling. “Thank you. Again.”

“You’re welcome.” Alec bit back his own smile. He wasn’t just imagining the warmth on Magnus’ face, right? “I’ll, uh…. I’ll just free that cord then finish up….”

Alec left that sentence lingering as he pushed out the door and trudged down the walkway, his thoughts swirling just as much as the snow kicked up by his boots and the icy wind. He’d always been attracted to Magnus (he was very sure there wasn’t a human being on earth who  _ wouldn’t  _ be), but he hadn’t been able to get the idea out of his head of actually  _ doing _ something about that attraction since he’d spotted him at the Pride parade six months ago. Six months of living directly across the street from him, seeing brief, torturous glances of him a few times a week, and having even briefer conversations.

After six months he’d finally made it over here and he was just…walking away?

He heard the door beginning to close and, before he could overthink it, he swirled on his heel, calling out, “Would you like to go out sometime? With me?”

Magnus froze with his hand on the door, hesitating just long enough for Alec to question if he’d read Magnus completely wrong, then, “How about now?”

Alec blinked.

“Now?”

Magnus held up a finger and disappeared, only to reappear seconds later pulling on a down jacket with a faux-fur lined hood and slipping his feet into boots. He pulled his front door closed behind him and stepped up to Alec. “And now we’re out. Outside, technically, but still ‘out.’ And—my favorite part of this plan—I’m with you.”

There was absolutely no way for Alec to misinterpret that, so Alec followed his instincts for the third time today, sweeping Magnus into his arms and into a kiss.

Magnus’ lips were a shock of warmth against Alec’s cold, heating even more under the press of Alec’s mouth to his and going completely molten when Magnus opened those lips and deepened the kiss.

He tasted like peppermint, chocolate, and happiness.

“I’m out of practice with this dating thing,” Alec rasped when they pulled apart. Why couldn’t he catch his breath? “So just in case it’s not obvious, I’d really like to date you, Magnus Bane.”

Although there hadn’t been any more snow forecasted, fine crystalline flakes dropped from the sky. A promise of a perfect Christmas to come and many, many more reasons for Alec to show up on Magnus’ doorstep.

Magnus smiled. “I’d love that, Alexander.”

**Author's Note:**

> i'm on twitter @authorsamcauley and tumblr @otppurefuckingmagic ♡


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